Watchdog slams council for £25m IT project that spun out of control

Haringey Council refuses to reveal who its partners were. "We haven't confirmed who our partners were on this project and don't intend to," it said.
It has also emerged that the Audit Commission, the public sector watchdog, found that Haringey approved 140 change requests costing £7.1m without exercising appropriate control, did not always adhere to good practices specified in Prince2 methodology, and had barriers to open and honest communication.

There was also inadequate reporting on the IT project to all members of the council.

Last year the council reported that the project had overspent by only £500,000. But the Audit Commission, which has investigated the project, found that some council members knew in August 2004 that the project had already overspent by £3.7m.

By summer 2005 the costs of the project had risen from £9m to £24.6m and although suppliers have absorbed £5.5m, the council's bill is £19.1m, more than double the budget set for the project in 2003. And external auditors have warned that costs may rise further.

The commission said it was unable to ascertain from the documents available "how budgetary control was exercised".

Councillor Neil Williams, leader of the Lib-Dem opposition at Haringey, said: "The scale of the mismanagement of this project is astonishing. There needs to be a full review. However, I am sceptical that this will happen."

Audit Commission's key findings

"We concluded that there was limited evidence of:

sufficiently senior project sponsorship;
adequate staffing resources being allocated to deliver the project;
application of appropriate budgetary control mechanisms, including provision of suitable financial information;
timely, transparent and accurate reporting of the project slippages and overspends; and
clear audit trails."

Source: Audit Commission, Review of Project Management, Haringey London Borough Council, Audit